Youth theater staging ‘Ramona Quimby’

Tom Titus

Unpredictable, exasperating, boisterous and independent. That’s

Ramona Quimby, always aggravating her older sister and constantly

getting into trouble. She’s been doing so since the 1950s, delighting

young readers around the world.

This weekend, the Laguna Playhouse’s Youth Theater will bring this

contentious young lady to the stage in its final production of the

season, aptly titled “Ramona Quimby.”

“Ramona Quimby is one of the most beloved characters in

contemporary children’s literature,” said Donna Inglima, who’s

directing the show. “At least one Ramona book appears on almost every

core curriculum reading list in schools and adults still talk about

loving the Ramona books when they were children.”

Ramona lives on Klickitat Street. “What most people don’t know,

unless you check out author Beverly Cleary’s web site, is that

Klickitat Street is a real street in Portland, Ore.,” Inglima noted.

“It is the neighborhood where Beverly Cleary grew up. And it is a

place she still visits today.”

The genesis of this popular character is interesting, Inglima

added. “When Cleary was writing a book in the 1950s that she called

‘Henry Huggins,’ she created what she called ‘an accidental

character.’ ”

“It occurred to me that as I wrote, all of these children appeared

to be only children,” Cleary has said, “so I tossed in a little

sister, and at that time, we had a neighbor named Ramona. I heard

somebody call out, ‘Ramona!’ so I just named her Ramona.”

Ramona Quimby has been immortalized, along with Henry Huggins and

Henry’s dog Ribsy, in the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for

Children in Portland’s Grant Park (which is four blocks from the real

Klickitat Street).

“Fountains are under Ramona’s and Ribsy’s feet, perfect for kids

to splash in during warm weather,” the director said. “Around the

concrete fountain slab are granite plaques engraved with the titles

of the Cleary books that take place in Portland.”

Cleary is quoted as saying, “People are inclined to say that I am

Ramona. I’m not sure that’s true, but I did share some experiences

with her.” Though Cleary did not write specific people from her

neighborhood she did say that one of her characters, Otis Spofford,

was inspired by a boy who sat across the aisle from her in sixth

grade who was “a lively person.”

Her best friend appears in several of the books as different

characters. She was the character of Austine in “Ellen Tebbits” and

she appears as the woman who is concerned about children waiting for

the school bus in front of her house in “Ramona’s World.” Cleary’s

childhood best friend still lives in Portland and they speak at least

once a week.

The adventures of Ramona and her friends will be played out for a

new generation of young fans over the next two weekends when “Ramona

Quimby” takes the stage of the playhouse in an adaptation by Len

Jenkins.

Performances will be given tonight at 7:30 p.m., Saturday and May

15 at 2 and 7:30 and Sunday and May 16 at 1 and 5 p.m. Call the

playhouse at (949) 497-2787 for ticket information.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.